Buying Guide: Optical Lighting

ARTICLE BY: INVISION Staff-MH
08 April 2016

LIGHT IT UP

THE RIGHT OPTICAL LIGHTING SOLUTIONS
CAN MAKE YOUR BUSINESS SHINE BRIGHTER

This article originally appeared in the April 2016 edition of INVISION.

My brain gets a little bothered when it
can’t decide what color something is. That’s
when things get chatty upstairs: “Blue? No,
it’s black. Or maybe it’s dark purple? No, it’s
blue. It’s definitely blue. ... Right?” Now imagine your
customer is having that same one-way conversation in
her mind as she’s trying to determine the color of a pair
of sunglasses. Think she’s likely to purchase? I don’t think so either. That’s why it’s important that ECPs use
optical lighting that reflects the true colors of frames.
Well-considered, strategic lighting can also make your
shop look more welcoming to passers-by and create
better ambiance. We turned to the pros for tips on
lighting solutions. You might also want to plug into
their expertise to make your eyewear pop and brighten
the customer experience. — JESSE BURKHART

Having the
proper amount
of light — not
too much and
not too little
— can make
a retail space
come alive.
The LUM Retail
Lighting Group,
a division of Eye
Designs, designed
this look
for Envision
Eyecare in Celebration,
FL.

➤Create convenience. Lights with the
right color temperature
and proper power
can make your store
an easy and enjoyable
place to shop. “If
you’re using a light
that’s too warm, a
purple frame might
actually appear brown,
or a pink frame might
appear more red,”
says Howard Gurock, president of Eco-Lite
Products.

➤Make them feel
pretty. Gurock advises
having lighting near
the mirror that makes
your customers look
attractive. “That’s
another way of keeping people in the store for
trying on more frames
and increasing the
chances of someone
purchasing,” he says.
“Someone is happy
to come back to your
optical if they like
how they look in your
mirror.”

➤Set the mood. Andrew
Fader, director of
marketing at Eye Designs,
says that many
retailers don’t consider
ambiance when they
choose lighting for
their stores. “They’ll either under-light it and
it looks dull or dingy, or
they’ll over-lamp it and
have too much glare
or too many hot spots.
You’ve got to have that
balance and control.”

➤Brighten strategically. Even a finer detail
such as the spacing
between fixtures can
alter visual perception.
“The arrangement of
the lights can affect the
consistency of color
throughout the store,”
says Sumita Paul of
Lighting 4 Diamonds.

WHAT ECPs SAY

DR. COLTON WICKS

CO-OWNER, PARIS OPTICAL, PARIS, TX

➤ Efficiency was the No. 1 factor
we considered when choosing
our lighting product. We
want this place lit up brightly,
of course, so it’s not like Abercrombie
& Fitch where you walk
in and can’t see the product. We
also wanted low heat output.

➤ We want to achieve a true
color perception, so temperature
of the light is important.
When we were working with Eye
Designs, that was something we
had to have. We didn’t want customers
thinking they bought a
black frame, only to walk outside
and discover they just bought a
dark purple frame.

➤ Lifespan of the bulb is another
factor we considered. That’s
of the utmost importance with
frame board lighting. I also don’t
want to walk in, see a dark corner
and have to climb a ladder
to replace a flood light every
morning.